Exalted Modern Gods
Uncle Sam (God of the United States of America and protectorates) Like many American icons, Uncle Sam began as a marketing gimmick. He is typically depicted in artistic renderings as a weathered, distinguished old man with the lines of age around his face, a white beard kept neatly straight and white hair which is not. He appears with some kind of a top hat, blue jacket, white shirt, and red bow-tie. When the Magic awakened, Uncle Sam Awakened. Uncle Sam knows that it is not his place to rule the United States of America (unless elected properly, which will not happen as he refuses to enter political races.) Uncle Sam is the spirit of America, and uses the considerable magical power at his disposal to bolster the country which pays him tribute. Uncle Sam appears very much like his traditional depiction. He stands as a tall man, 6'4" tall (not coincidentally the height of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America), with a neat white beard cropped an inch from his jawline, but without moustache. He has wispy white hair which seems voluminous yet easily blows with any wind or movement, wears a neat blue fabric duster jacket over a white shirt with a red bow-tie; his trousers are striped vertically, red, white and blue, with bright blue hems around the waist and ankles, with a white star pattern around them. His top hat is very tall, and carries the same moteif around the bottom of the bell, with a white top portion and red brim. Sam's first loyalty is to the United States of America and it's citizenry, instead of any particular political party. His politics are those which support the country most; he loudly argues against diviseness and stubbornness in the halls and speeches of politics, and will not hesitate to voice his dissent with policies that he considers detrimental to the nation or it's people, regardless of upon which side of the aisle they originate on. He is not a god of war, but he will not oppose war if he believes it to be the correct course of action. In wartime and in peacetime, economically and militarily, he uses his powers to bolster the nation at home, pursuing the health, wealth, and prosperity of the nation and it's citizenry. In personal combat he is not without recourse; his jacket contains two seemingly-normal IMI Uzis that he will not hesitate to draw and fire in defense of himself, others, or his country, but his skill in battle is not exceptional for a God of his power. :Motivation: To ensure the prosperity and security of the United States of America. :Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 4; Carisma 7, Manipulation 3, Appearance 3; Perception 5, Intelligence 4, Wits 5 :Virtues: Compassion 4, Conviction 4, Temperance 3, Valor 3 Abilities: :Archery 4 (Automatics +3), Awareness 4, Bureaucracy 5 (U.S. Law +3), Dodge 4 (Taking a Bullet +3), Investigation 4 (Finding Legal Infractions +3), Integrity 5 (Good of the Nation +3), Larceny 3 (Counter-Intrusion +3), Linguistics 4 (Stirring Writings +3), Lore 5 (U.S. History +3), Martial Arts 3 (Defensive +3), Performance (Oration +3), Presence 5 (Inspiring +3), Socialize 5 (Inspiring the Masses +3), Thrown 5 (Guns Akimbo +3), War 4 (Home-Front +3) :Known Languages: Native: English; Others: Native American Languages, Spanish, Arabic, Russian. :Backgrounds: Cult 4, Contacts 5 (President of the United States of America, various government officials elected and appointed,) Followers 3 (Secret Service protection detail,) Influence 4 :Willpower 8 :Essence 5 :Essence Pool: 110 Motes :Health Levels: -0x1 -1x11 -2x11 -4x1, Incapacitated. Charms *Essence Plethora x3 *Hurry Home **This Charm teleports Uncle Sam to the steps of the capitol building if any chamber of Congress is in session, to NORAD HQ in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, if a formal state of declared war is in effect or America is otherwise under current attack, or to the Oval Office of the White House. He may choose where to go if more than one condition is met; if none of the available locations exist (such as if Capitol Hill and NORAD got bombed to dust,) it teleports Uncle Sam to the side of the current President of the United States, whomever that would be according to the chain of succession. If the chain of succession has been completely wiped out and he has no other place to go, attempting to Hurry Home causes Uncle Sam to dissolve, only to re-form when a new President has been elected and Congress reconvened. *Measure the Wind **Sam habitually uses this Charm to size up any and all persons in his presence or that of other high government officials. When traveling with a Chain of Succession member, he uses this Charm once an hour or scene (whichever is sooner) to scan for hidden creatures who may be lying in ambush. *Principle of Motion **Sam keeps Eight actions banked with Principle of Motion. He typically holds these in reserve so that he may reload his submachineguns and flurry the reload with an attack, but is not averse to emptying the clips if the situation calls for it. *Reserve of Will x3 *Eye of Inspiration **Though Sam prefers not to, he can directly intervene and make calls for action or social change. However, he prefers to use this Charm to bolster a mortal whose policies and goals he supports in making their own calls for change. For fifteen motes, Sam can provide another being with the use of any of his social ability's Excellencies (Presence, Performance, Socialize, Bureaucracy, Linguistics.) These Excellencies activate automatically when the recipient of the benefience is making arguments which he or she truely believes to be in the best interests of the people of the United States of America, and fail him or her completely if he or she utters so much as a single argument or makes a single proposal which is self-serving or serving any other interest above that of the United States, ending the Charm. They also gain Sam's Specializations of the afotementioned Abilities for the duration of the effect of this Charm. *Touch of Grace **Uncle Sam has a powerful and fairly expansive version of the Touch of Grace charm. He will not hesitate to use this Charm to sustain the life of anyone cut down in his presence, whether a political official or the Secret Service agent who took the bullet instead. He uses it freely to heal such crippling, poisons or maladies as he can, and to restore objects and locations of historical importance. The limitations are that the person or thing he is attempting to heal must be in good standing with the United States: for example, he could heal a civilian shot down at a political rally in an attempt to gun down the president, but he could not preserve the life of the shooter for questioning after the Secret Service returned fire. He could heal the wounds of a citizen of an allied country who became injured during joint operations with the United States, or heal specific citizens who are known to favor good relations, but not random off-the-street noncitizens. He may, however, explicitly ignore this if the person in question wishes to be a citizen but has not managed to become one. *All-Encompassing Intrusion-Sensing Method **The fingers of Uncle Sam lay on the pulse of the nation. For the effects of this Charm, any land, holding, project or property of the Federal Government of the United States of America (including overseas military bases, U.S.-flagged, government-operated ships at sea, the Interstate Highway System, United States airspace and it's coastal waters, and the like,) count as Sam's domain. He must target a specific discrete object or project - for example, "The Interstate Highway System" is a valid target, but "United States Naval Vessels" is not - he would have to specify a vessel by name. He could, for instance, target a specific suite of offices in an office building which are occupied by offices of the Internal Revenue Service, but he could not target the entire IRS, nor the parts of the building not connected to that office. He may also target all of Washington, D.C., including those parts which are under private ownership. *All-Encompassing Melodious Diagnostic Report **This Charm affects the same holdings as Sam's All-Encompassing Intrusion-Sensing Method, and with the same drawbacks. *All-Encompassing Sense Domain **This Charm affects the same holdings as Sam's All-Encompassing Intrusion-Sensing Method, and with the same drawbacks. *Worldly Illusion **Sam uses his Worldly Illusion power to halt the percieved flow of time for himself and his guests, so that they may communicate. He will use this power to buy strategists the time to strategize and politicians time to think in a time-sensitive situation, but he also uses it to take people "aside" in public places or when about to make an address if he needs to impart to them critical information - or wishes to offer his own private encouragements or (more likely) castigations. More than one politician about to stand up and offer forth honey-tongued self-serving arguments has been taken aside by Sam and given a thorough lecture on the nature of civic duty and elected station. It's seldom effective in actually changing such a man's mind; but always effective in distracting him and preventing him from delivering his speech the way he intended. As a special ability, while using this Charm, information contained within local electronic systems may be accessed by those who are participating in the out-of-timeflow conversation. They could not, for instance, access the internet or an intranet, but they could access any files on the PDA in their pocket or on a desktop computer. *Divine Decree **Sam can issue Divine Decrees, but only at the behest of the sitting President of the United States of America unless the decree is issued as supernatural backing of existant federal law, constitutional articles, or signed treaties. If Sam finds himself caught between conflicting sources, the Constitution and it's Ammendments always come first, Treaties second, the United States Code third, and the direction of the President last. This power's effect can, for instance, be used to compel or enjoin official action - for example, if a wartime measure was passed that ordered all citizens of a given race rounded up and placed in internment camps, Sam could pass a Divine Decree forcing a halt to the measure on the basis of the violation of the Fifth Ammendment. Sam can be compelled to terminate an issued Divine Decree by a two-thirds vote of the Senate and House unless the Decree is overruling a clear and flagrant violation of the Constitution (such as racially-based internment camps.) *Stoke the Flame **When even the most gifted politicians speak, about half the population tunes them out automatically. When Uncle Sam feels it nessessary to give a speech, the entire nation listens. Whether simply addressing the Chambers of Senate to rise together for the good of the country, exhorting the President and his Cabinet to think carefully about the long-term ramifications of their policy proposals, castigating the rich and powerful for their faux patriotism whilst bleeding dry the true people of the country, or giving a televised or radio-broadcast national address to reassure a frightened people, Sam makes people listen. He may use his Stoke the Flame Charm to influence the emotions of any targeted group, provided the nature of his social attack has to do with improving or bolstering the country. It is only effective on those who are citizens or permanent residents (in the eyes of the law or otherwise,) of the U.S.A. *Landscape Hide **Sam can use Landscape Hide to enmesh himself in the structure of any monument, marker, building, or other non-natural feature on lands owned by the United States government or any of it's branches, as well as in any such object or structure anywhere in Washington, D.C., or on any territory which is spiritually significantly linked to the United States of America anywhere in the world, such as an American military base or overseas military cemetary. He oftentimes likes to spend time haunting such locations as the Washington monument or Lincoln Memorial, but he's just as capable of inhabiting a random concrete traffic barrier on any random stretch of the Interstate highway system. *Spice of Custodial Delectation **Though Uncle Sam has no clergy, per se, (other than those obscessed nutters he prefers to steer clear of,) he gets a great amount of use out of this Charm thanks to the frequency with which large groups of mortals join together to perform maintenance and care on public monuments and buildings. In this way he recieves a steady income of Essence simply by being on Capitol Hill and encouraging the work crews to take pride in their country and their jobs. Since Sam reappeared, the Capitol, it's monuments and outlying structures, have all been magnificently well-maintained; he argues long and hard for the proper upkeep and maintenance of the Capitol and it's buildings. He also knows, better than anyone, the exact scheduling of the maintainence and cleaning details, which he uses to his advantage to string together the operations which will have the most mortals working at a given time. *Divine Perogative x2 **Uncle Sam treats any and all mental influences to betray or forsake the United States of America or the President of the United States as unacceptable orders. (Should someone stronger than Sam be elected as President, then that aspect of the Charm would be surpressed until the President is no longer a person stronger than Sam.) *Ox-Body Technique x5 **Uncle Sam is surprisingly spry and tough for an old guy. He has five additional -1 and -2 health boxes. *Excellencies: **First: Archery, Bureaucracy, Linguistics, Performance, Presence, Socialize, Thrown **Second: Dodge, Awareness, Investigation, Integrity, Linguistics, Lore **Divine Ability Subordinations ***Sam can invoke Divine Ability Subordination to enhance his Bureaucracy, Integrity, and Lore, when acting in the best interests of the United States. Category:Exalted